Oddball, IMO, anywheres between 1-6 months. This of course depends entirely of what the buyout is comprised of, ie; shares and cash.You could sell on the open market once a buyout is confirmed,if its all cash, but you have to be very careful that another, better offer dont come in over night and you miss out on another rise.If the offer consists of shares, there will be a recorded date by which shares will be assigned to your current holdings. If you choose to sell on the open market,in event of a cash offer, it is usually a few cents cheaper, whereas the arbitrage traders are usually there that will buy your shares for lets say .05 less the offer price. These traders make money off these pennies because they trade high volumes of shares at these times, usually.